THE ROOM WAS VAST, the surroundings dark, contrasting against the light by the door, just behind where a small desk had been placed. In the centre of the room, there was a glass prison pod. Inside, Bucky was still stiffly restrained, his eyes dark as he faced upwards, his head against the chair. He ignored the sound of footsteps coming into the room, going over to the small desk facing the pod. Zemo looks up at Bucky, looking over the edge of his glasses slightly. "Hello, Mr. Barnes." He greets. "Before you ask, Ms. Johnson is fine albeit annoyed." Bucky keeps his eyes closed, clenching his fists. "I've been sent by the United Nations to evaluate you. Do you mind if I sit?" Bucky stays completely silent. Zemo gives a forced smile before sitting down at the desk. "Your first name is James?"
— — — — —
Sharon walked into the main control room of the building, holding a few sheets of paper in her hands. She walks behind Steve and Sharon, her heels clicking onto the ground as she makes her way over to the desk. She hands the papers to the two men. "The receipt for your gear." She tells them with a bland voice.
Sam looks at the paper and backs up at Sharon. He sighs in exasperation, holding it out, a scroll on his face. "'Bird costume'?" He groans, placing the sheet back down on the table. "Come on."
Sharon looked down at the black man from where he sat. "I didn't write it." She says dismissively before pressing a button on the console that disabled the muting of the video feed coming from Bucky's evaluation.
— — — — —
Zemo looks away from the paper notes on Bucky's past on the table and clasps his hands in front of him on the table. He looks up at the ex-assassin with a soft smile. "I'm not here to judge you." He reassures him, talking in a soft and kind voice, sounding caring towards him. "I just want to ask you a few questions." He sits back slightly. "Do you know where you are, James?" He asks him. He waits a few moments and Bucky doesn't reply, instead staying completely silent, not giving Zemo satisfaction of answering his questions. "I can't help you if you don't talk to me, James."
Bucky lowers his head slightly, his vision drifting from the ceiling over to the man sitting near the door, over the yellow warning lines traced around the rim of the prison pod, as if they were a silent warning to not get close. "My name is Bucky." He says, his voice small. His eyes drift around, almost as if they were trying to piece everything together.
— — — — —
At the large power station near the edge of the city, multiple rows of power lines and generators run along the vast empty area. A small hut is left off to the side, housing the custodian who manages the plant. A white delivery van rolls up outside of the house. He groans slightly and honks the horn, signifying that he has entered into the area and needs to speak to him.
"Hallo (German: Hello)?" He calls out and the door opens, a man in green overalls exits from the hut and comes out to the van.
He quickly gets out of the van. "Hey. Ich hab eine große für dich. (German: Hey. I have a big one for you)." He informs him, his face blank slightly, his eyes sharp and knowing. He goes towards the back and removing a large wooden grate from the van, placing it on the ground, near where the central controls where for the power station itself. "Ja. Okay, hier unterzeichnen. (German: Okay. Here. Just sign here)."
"Hier (German: Here)?" The person asked, pointing to the paper. He glances at the grate and back at the digital screen.
"Ja. (Yeah)" The driver answers, holding the screen out to him, which the custodian quickly signs. The driver gets back into the van and quickly drives off. Meanwhile, the custodian looks down at the grate and get's out a wrench, ready to open it.
— — — — —
In the UN bunker, Steve sits down by a table, other standing around him. He looks down at the blurry photograph taken from the CCTV footage of the man who had bombed the congress in Vienna. He studies the man's features, looking everything over, trying to figure out if anything in the image is wrong or seemingly miss-placed. "Why would the Task Force release this photo to begin with?" Steve asked, sounding suspicious. He looks over at the others, his hands placed on the table as he sits there in thought.
"Get the word out, involve as many eyes as we can?" Sharon suggests.
"Right." Steve admits, looking away. "It's a good way to flush a guy out of hiding. Set off a bomb, get your picture taken. Get seven billion people looking for the Winter Soldier." He thinks allowed, his mind already knowing something is wrong before he even finishes talking about it to the others.
"You're saying someone framed him to find him." Sharon asks, confused.
"Steve, we looked for the guy for two years and found nothing." Sam says.
"We didn't bomb the UN." Steve reminds him harshly. "That turns a lot of heads."
"Yeah, but that doesn't guarantee that whoever framed him would get him." Sharon tells Steve, leaning forward. "It guarantees that we would." She explains, her eyes drifting towards the different video feeds on the wall of the control room. Her gaze drifts down to the video of the evaluator on the screen and her eyes narrowing in suspicion.
Steve frowns slightly and he looks over at the camera footage, his fingers drumming on the table. "Yeah." He says softly.
— — — — —
Zemo looks over at Bucky, examining the man before him. "Tell me, Bucky. You've seen a great deal, haven't you?" He asks, tilting his head to the side in thought.
Bucky looks over at him with a defeated look. "I don't want to talk about it." Bucky answers, sounding down and depressed. His voice is slow, his words even.
"You fear that… if you open your mouth, the horrors might never stop." He suggests. He looks down at his phone on the table. "Don't worry." He tries to reassure him. Zemo gets a message on his screen: 'message inbox:1'. He touches it the screen showing the status: 'package delivered'. Zemo looks up at Bucky, holding up a singular finger. "We only have to talk about one."
— — — — —
The custodian opened up the crate, looking down at the mysterious machine that was situated inside off the wooden box. There was a small black screen on one side and a good amount of wires came out, snaking in and out between different parts of the internal and external mechanics. "Hey, was ist das (Hey. What is this?)" He asks, looking at the device in confusion. He steps back slightly, looking around, thinking to himself, trying to remember when he order it. He didn't, he knew that.
Suddenly, The device erupts with a silent scream, a bubble of energy flying out in invisible waves from the device, shooting out and engulfing the power station. The powers lines fluctuate and spark, the electricity shorting out in quick succession. The power dies out, the many lines going dead. Thought the city, lights go dark, the electricity being completely wiped out from the main power system, hospitals and buildings going onto their emergency generators to conserve power where it is needed.
— — — — —
In the UN building, Everett grumbles when the lights and camera's go off, the feed to the prison pods downstairs being removed from the screens. "Great." He says sarcastically before looking at the other agents, his face stern. "Come on, guys, get me eyes on Barnes. Go."
Tony taps the rims of his smart glass, the lens going a slightly more blue colour as he looks around. "FRIDAY, get me the source of that outage." He orders.
Sharon looks over at Steve and Sam from where they sit inside the office. "Sub-level 5, east wing." She informs them. The two nods before quickly bolting from the office, heading down the basement quickly.
— — — — —
The pod is cast in darkness, a red light flashing in the room. Bucky flexes the fingers on his cybernetic arm as it comes back online. He looks over at Zemo in confusion, his eyebrows raised. "What the hell is this?" Bucky asks, his voice strained, sounding worried. He doesn't try and escape, just sitting there, his fingers gripping tightly.
"Why don't we discuss your home? Not Romania. Certainly not Brooklyn, no. I mean, your real home." Zemo's faked accent goes, giving way to his Scandinavian accent. He removes the glasses, placing them down on the table before walking over to Bucky, standing in front of the glass. He brings out a red book from his pocket, holding it open in his hand. In his other hand he holds a torch, shining it on the pages, reading carefully from it. "Желание. (Russian: Longing)" He says carefully, his voice even, the words pronounced perfectly.
Bucky clenches his eyes shut in fear, his fingers flexing. "No." He says breathlessly, his voice hitching in his throat as he snaps his head back.
"Ржавый. (Russian: Rusted)"
"Stop." Bucky pleads.
"Семнадцать. (Russian: Seventeen)" Zemo begins to walk around the pod.
Bucky's metal arm trembles in its restraint, showing his fear over, not wanting to be triggered, to wanting to let the Winter Soldier out. "Stop." He sneers angrily.
"Рассвет. (Russian: Daybreak)" Zemo continues, his voice never flattering. Bucky screams, his metal arm clenching before ripping through its restraint before he starts breaking free of his other restraints. "Печь. Девять. (Russian: Furnace. Nine)" His voice is quicker, slightly on edge as Bucky starts to punch at the glass door. "Добросердечный. (Russian: Benign)" Bucky punches at the door harder, cracks forming in plexiglass. Zemo looks more worried. "Возвращение на Родину. Один. Грузовой вагон. (Russian: Homecoming. One. Freight car)" Bucky battered at the front of the pod with his metal fist and the glass screen flies clear. Zemo slowly rounds the pod with the book and the torch in hand. He looks up at Bucky, closing the book with one hand before coming round and standing before him. Bucky straightens up, a dark frown on his face, his eyes blank and distant. "Солдат? (Russian: Soldier)" He says carefully.
Bucky looks at him, barely recognising his surroundings, the asset coming to the front, the Winter Soldier taking back control over him. "Я готов отвечать. (Russian: Ready to comply)" He says emotionlessly.
Zemo smiles. "Mission report. December 16, 1991." He orders.
— — — — —
Steve and Sam sprint outside of the chamber where the pod was held, red lights flashing on and off through the long corridors and fortified cell-like rooms. All around, there were agents scattered about, slumped over in various positions and states of health or fitness. Some had injuries dotted here and there, but the majority of them were in okay-enough condition, obviously not the main target for Bucky… or by looking at it, the Winter Soldier in command of Bucky's body. Zemo was laying down slumped on the ground, his arm outstretched as if trying to reach for help. The glasses were back on his face and he was breathing heavily, leaning near the wall.
"Help me. Help." Zemo pleads, looking up at them.
"Get up." Steve orders as he walks up to where Zemo is laying. His eyes are fierce and without pity. He quickly grabs Zemo and hauls him up off of the floor, pushing him against the wall. "Who are you? What do you want?"
Zemo chuckles slightly, looking at him. "To see an empire fall." He laughs.
Sam enters down the hallway, trying to make his way over to where Steve is but at a noticeably slower pace than Steve himself could go at, being a normal human. Suddenly a metal fists comes towards him and Sam leans back slightly, dodging Bucky's punch, watching as the hand smashes through the wall beside him, leaving a good-sized dent. Bucky grabs Steve by the jaw in a firm, unwitting grip before throwing him at the open pod, causing him to stumble slightly. Steve quickly gets back up and shakes his head before lunging towards the assassin, throwing a punch, only for Bucky to move his head slightly at the momentum, not even feeling it.
Bucky grumbles before he swiftly punches Steve out of the chamber, the blond dodging slightly, backing away from the room to try and put more distance between the two of them. Bucky's fist goes through the elevator door and Steve stumbles slightly before he quickly regains his footing and continues to block the hits coming towards him. As he blocks one of the fists, he stumbles slightly from the sheer force of the hit and loses his footing, falling back into the empty elevator shaft. Bucky then quickly runs off.
Sam groans as he comes around, rubbing his head slightly as he forces himself up into a sitting position. He looks over at Zemo, who is currently standing by the open doors of the elevator shaft, his eyes cast down at the endless darkness inside.
"Der Ostflügel ist kompromittiert. Ich wiederhole: Der Ostflügel ist kompromittiert. (German: The east wing is compromised. I repeat: the east wing is compromised)"
Sam looks over at where Zemo is standing. "Hey." Steve calls. Zemo glances over at him before quickly bolting as Sam raises himself off of the ground.
Meanwhile at the bottom of the darkened elevator shaft, Steve pushes himself off the floor. He looked up slightly, looking at the scuff marks he had made on the wall from catching his fall so that he didn't harm himself when he fell to the ground.
— — — — —
"Evac all civilians." Everett orders in a firm voice, looking at the other agents in the base. "Get me a perimeter around the building, and gunships in the air."
Natasha looks over at Tony who is dusting at his suit before putting his hands in his pocket. She tilts her head to the side, a look of hope in her face. "Please tell me you brought a suit." She tells him, a look of hope in her eyes as she says that, hoping that he broke some rule with his egotistical filled brain and brought one.
"Sure did." Tony smiles. "It's a lovely Tom Ford, three-piece, two-button." He looks at the glare on Natasha's face. He shrugs slightly. "I'm an active-duty non-combatant."
"Follow me." Sharon says, quickly running past Tony and Natasha, not even sparing them a glance.
— — — — —
Zemo starts to make his way up the stairwell as the lights flash. His hand ghosts along the handrail, his polished shoes gracefully making their way up each of the stone steps, barely making a sound. His panicking breathing fills the space as he runs. Sam quickly tries to catch up with him, his feet going up two steps at a time as he practically floats up the stairwell, chasing after Zemo.
Meanwhile, Steve's hands grip into the side of the elevator shaft, his nails digging into the brick as he slowly and steadily makes his way up, his breathing in a forced even pattern to make sure that he doesn't run out of energy as he climbs, not even daring to look downwards, not wanting to think about the size of the fall it would be.
— — — — —
Bucky storms through the ground floor of the building, his feet silently enough that he goes undetected until he stumbles onto two guards patrolling the area. He looks at them darkly before quicking knocking the two out before they even knew what hit them. Seeing this, Tony quickly hides behind a different pillar. His hand hovers over his watch, his high-tech glasses analysing the layout as Bucky makes his way over the floor.
"We're in position." Natasha says over the radio.
Tony taps a wrist-control, bringing the main part over his hand, transforming it into his iron man glove. When Bucky comes closer to him he comes out from behind the pillar and points it at the brainwashed assassin and quickly fires it at him. The hit stuns Bucky before he has a chance to shoot one of the guards dotted about the floor. Tony rushes over to him, continuing to fire at him as a distraction, causing Bucky to get annoyed and throw a punch at the billionaire. Bucky tries to shoot his gun, but Tony's gloved hand covers the barrel of the gun, stopping the bullet from coming out and hurting him.
Sharon and Natasha run closer to them, watching as Tony pulls the barrel free from the weapon and swiftly smacking Bucky's head backwards. Natasha and Sharon come up, using Bucky's moment of distraction to kick him before trading punches at him, not letting him get his footing back. Suddenly, Bucky grabs Sharon and flips her head over heels before his eyes, focusing in on Natasha, ignoring the sound of Sharon smashing onto the table behind him.
Natasha uses this opportunity to leap on top of Bucky, her legs locking around his neck, her hands against the sides of his head. Bucky staggers slightly, gripping at her in an attempt to break her free, before ending up slamming her backwards into another table, causing her to let go of his neck and fall onto the table. The moment she tries to get back up, a metal hand wraps around his throat tightly, his eyes cold as they look into her. She gasps, her hand grabbing onto his, trying to stop him from gripping tighter. "You could at least recognize me." She says between halted breaths, looking him right in the eyes, hoping that some part of him will.
Suddenly, T'Challa comes from nowhere and kicks Bucky off Natasha. Bucky shakes his head and runs at him, the two fighting relentlessly, exchanging kicks and punches. Bucky manages to get in a counter punch to his jaw, causing the king to fall backwards, his feet staggering before he recovers. However, in that moment, Bucky manages to use the small amount of time given to him to hurry up some stairs and onto the next floor, aiming to try and get to the roof.
T'Challa interrupts his run, vaulting over the railing and standing right in front of him, his hands outstretched at his side, almost asking him to come closer. The moment Bucky tries to come closer, T'Challa spin-kicks and makes him stagger, using the distraction to grab the assassin's metal arm. He tries to twist it behind the man's back, only for his eyes to go wide in worry when he realises that he wouldn't be able to do, to which he decides to simply throw Bucky backwards, keeping a hold of him when they tumble down the stairs. They quickly resume fighting and another leg sweep from the king sends Bucky over the railing. T'Challa quickly looks over the railing but finds the wide reception area empty of life, Bucky nowhere to be found.
— — — — —
Outside staff flee the building en masse, their footsteps like a stampede on the ground. Sam is among them, darting in and out the crowd, not panicking as much as the others are. He quickly spots something on the ground. He picks it up. "Damn it." Sam grumbles. He looks around the wide courtyard, his eyes darting about and taking everything in, picking up on anything slightly extraordinary before scowling.
Meanwhile at the top of the building, Bucky was running across the helipad on the rooftop, his feet barely touching the ground as he covered the ground quickly, making his way over to the blue chopper suited and ready for take off when needed. He goes over to it and effortlessly pulls the lock off of the door, throwing it open and hopping into the driver's seat. A few seconds later, Steve rushes over the tarmac and over to where the chopper is rising into the air and leaps into the air, gripping the landing gear off the helicopter.
The muscles in Steve's arm bulge as he pulls harder on the edge of the helicopter, his feet digging in and skidding for traction on the flat ground of the helipad in an attempt to stop it from being able to take off. However, the chopper drags him across the ground, bringing him over to the weak looking mesh that frames the outside of the helipad, leaving Steve to grab onto the railing of the edge with one hand, the other one hanging tightly onto the landing gear of the aircraft. He grits his teeth tightly, his neck straining with the effort needed.
Bucky looks down from the cockpit and glares at him with annoyance, his eyes distant as he throws the joystick to the left and the chopper's nose slams into the edge of the helipad. This causes the rotor-blades to smash to pieces on the tarmac and Steve quickly ducks as the tail swings around from the residual momentum. The helicopter lies in a twisted metal on the mesh of the pad as Steve rises beside the canopy, looking inside. Suddenly, Bucky's arm smashes through the glass as he growls, the fingers wrapping it around Steve's throat.
The movement causes the chopper to start to tilt over the edge, swaying dangerously, barely staying on. The tail breaks off, the final straw, and the helicopter becomes unbalanced and falls off of the helipad, tumbling towards the river below them. Bucky keeps a tight hold of Steve's neck as he falls with the helicopter as it slams into the river, quickly sinking. The sudden impact causes Bucky's head to jerk back, knocking Bucky out cold, his hand coming loose, letting go of Steve. The copper sinks quickly, settling into the riverbed with the other debris.
Steve swims towards Bucky, quickly removing him from the cockpit with efficiency, his legs kicking viciously as he swims towards the surface. In seconds, he manages to surface with Bucky's limp body held in his arms. He looks around, breathing heavily, his body soaking wet. He treads water with one arm, the other held around Bucky, making sure his head doesn't fall back into the water. Steve looks down at him, quietly pressing a kiss on the top of his head carefully.